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Tesla may have signed some kind of deal with Slacker that precludes them from installing it on a US car. That said I think Tesla would prefer to have it's codebase as simple as possible and therefore it makes sense to include Spotify everywhere.

Tesla may have signed some kind of deal with Slacker that precludes them from installing it on a US car. That said I think Tesla would prefer to have it's codebase as simple as possible and therefore it makes sense to include Spotify everywhere.

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But in the past we had a split already with RDIO for EU / Slacker for US.

Of course all this has been precipitated by RDIO folding. Personally I think it's a shame.

I have Spotify in my other car (via BT streaming from my phone), and RDIO in the Tesla. Much prefer RDIO when you use it as intended, I'd often "discover" music in a way Spotify doesn't encourage. I also find it more much more "set and forget" which is just what you want for in car audio!

Now you might ask why didn't I use RDIO in my other car. Simple answer RDIO's app (at least on my Xperia Z3) was so buggy as to be unusable. I persevered for a week, then gave up. This is probably why RDIO have gone out of business.

This, so very much this. Supposedly at least Android Auto integration is actually pretty easy to do. Heck, next generation Hondas will have it.

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As chummy Elon is with Google leadership, I have doubts whether Tesla would be open to giving up telemetry data to Google to get Android Auto integration. Porsche recently publicly announced that they will not support Android Auto because they would be forced to provide telemetry data (data about how the engine is responding as related to throttle input) to Google under the Android Auto program. With Google getting into cars, Porsche did not want to give up it's "secret sauce". Given how Tesla and Google are friendly competitors in the autonomous vehicle domain, I'm not holding out hope for Android Auto coming to Tesla anytime soon.

Tesla went to market when the car was launched, Spotify was not the lowest bidder, so they went with Slacker in the US and Rdio in EU.

Rdio have gone bust, and Tesla have to make good on the functionality for the EU. (The new subscription on EU cars certainly won't have been free!)

IOW it's a tactical choice forced upon them not a strategic one. One thing I do know is Tesla are pretty hot on cost control, and this is sunk cost. MAYBE new cars will come with Spotify, but upgrading the fleet is a cost Tesla are under no obligation to bear.

I find Slacker to be average, at best (why do I hear so many repeat songs!?!? - I've moved on to XM exclusively unless I want to hear a specific song). I'd really prefer if Tesla went with a more robust internet radio app with all the features of Spotify but, unfortunately, I don't see this happening anytime soon.

I don't disagree but my wife's new XC90 has CarPlay and it's pretty much useless.
- With text messages, Siri has to read these out loud instead of displaying them. This is incredibly slow and very obtrusive when others are in the car.
- You must use Apple Maps. This is better than the Volvo Sensus built in maps but not really better than Tesla's current map / navigation solution.
- The Phone works well but, again, no better than Tesla's current integration (or Volvo's standard bluetooth integration)
- We no longer use Apple's Music app so this is not a benefit.
- We use Rhapsody instead of Spotify (wife's decision, not mine!) and there's no app for this so we have the use the 'Now Playing' app. Again, no better than what Tesla currently offers.

In my opinion, I'd take Tesla's current offering over the CarPlay integration in the XC90. I'm hoping CarPlay adds more applications to the line-up and a few more options (for example, displaying text messages on the screen instead of reading them veeerrrrryyy slowly to you ). Maybe if I was a current Spotify or Apple Music user I'd like it better...

Note: I am a big fan of Apple and have only owned iPhones over the past 6 years so don't take this as bashing by an Android Fanboy!

Tesla went to market when the car was launched, Spotify was not the lowest bidder, so they went with Slacker in the US and Rdio in EU.

Rdio have gone bust, and Tesla have to make good on the functionality for the EU. (The new subscription on EU cars certainly won't have been free!)

IOW it's a tactical choice forced upon them not a strategic one. One thing I do know is Tesla are pretty hot on cost control, and this is sunk cost. MAYBE new cars will come with Spotify, but upgrading the fleet is a cost Tesla are under no obligation to bear.

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Oh I am not asking them to pay for a subscription. I'm just asking for integration into their music player. Hey, they've already written the code for Europe / Australia / Asia. They already have Slacker and TuneIn available. Just add Spotify. I'll pay for my own subscription. Just as I pay for my Slacker premium subscription and use that instead of my tesla account (that way I at least get single artist stations and play lists - but the library... Slacker's library is so limited...)

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